Everything you should know for shooting with Raptor Z shock absorber arm (part 1)

Launched in August 2019, the Raptor Z arm quickly gained attention in the grips market. Raptor Z’s ruggedness, powerful, and versatility have convinced professional filmmakers to use it in the high-speed car chasing scenes on various terrains.

If you are using Raptor Z arm or are looking for this product, please take a look at this “Everything you should know for shooting with Raptor Z arm“ series to give yourself the best knowledge when using this flexible shock absorber arm.

Raptor Z Mounting Options

How to mount this shock absorber arm? The first question that every customers care. Depending on the requirements of the DOP and specific scenes, the shooters assemble the arm in a variety of ways. The following are common mounting ways filmmakers often use with Raptor Z arm:

Mounting to poles for tracking vehicle shooting:

Mostly usage with the car (in front, back or aside a vehicle), motorbike, sometimes equipped on boat or rickshaw. The shock absorber arm is built on aluminum pipes, which is recommended to be 48 – 52mm through clamps and manually tightened. This design is somewhat traditional; however, this is the surest, safest way of mounting, thereby minimizing the shaking of the whole system, especially during the car chasing scene at the high-speed.

Setup with a dolly or crane:

In this setup, users must convert clamp mounting on Raptor Z arm to native Mitchell mount to ensure proper compatibility. Arm to Male Mitchell, thickness and rigidity construction, is designed to handle the entire devices and payload. 

Setup with remoted arm:

It is rarely to be used because there are a few remoted arms without head like Custom Easy Raptor Arm suitable. Removing clamp mounting, the user can attach a shock absorber arm to the remoted arm via five holes M10 pattern 1.5mm for connection.

Which the way of setup do you use most? If your setup does not belong to these setups, please email us at contact@customeasy.org for more detail. We would love to help you!

Extension, Yes or No?

Why do you need an Extension? As the name implies, Extension supports to lengthen the arm, which helps your setup not crash with the vehicle while running. Take a look at the table of length comparisons between the configurations below:

The system with Raptor Z arm only or combo with Raptor ISO / Raptor XY supports a 56cm radius that is quite narrow compared to the camera stabilizer’s moving area. The Extension will be the salvation for your system to avoid unlucky bumps.

However, this product reduces the shock absorber arm’s ability. Custom Easy provides 150mm Extension supports max 28kgs with Raptor Z and Heavy Springs (while without Extension, the arm can handle up to 30kgs). If you are not too concerned about payloads, Extension should be added.

Learn more how to attach Extension HERE.

Besides, we also recommend that you can customize the Extension in your car rigs like Elephant Grip below:

This will help your arm release maximum energy.

I hope the above article is useful to you. We will continue the next blog to help you understand and apply the Raptor Z arm effectively.

For additional questions, please email us at contact@customeasy.org. We will respond to you shortly.